"Hunting" for the Big Picture

Covering an event with a LARGE playing field can be challenging. Shakertown, covering over 3000 rolling acres of Central Kentucky Bluegrass farmland, plays host to the Woodford Hounds annual Fox Hunt. It's large. 
You need to have a game plan and a vision on how you want to cover such an event, and bring along a selection of lenses that will tell the story. How do you want to shoot it, and what do you want to cover? Do you want to focus on the dogs and details, the range of colorful people stories, or the broad scope of the event over hill and dale?
 

Blessing of the Hounds. Photo: Matt Wooley, Aperture, f/5.6 @ ISO 320, 1/1000th, 0EV, 15mm fisheye.

I chose the BIG PICTURE point of view. I wanted to capture the overall scope of the event, and also feature some of the little scenes that weave the fabric of the story. I carried a 15mm fisheye, a 50mm and a 300mm, and one camera body, to get what I wanted. This was Wendy and my third year in attendance, so I had an idea of what was in store. Of course, thinking you know what's going to happen, is the recipe for missing the shot.

They left the "Blessing of the Hounds" and went in the opposite direction to what I was expecting. Thankfully, after talking to some of the riders, I knew the game plan and planted myself in the right spot. Off they went right into the morning sun. Perfect. I popped on the 50, and they trotted right by me. 

Release the hounds! Photo, MW, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 400, 1/2000th, 0EV, 50mm.

I was sitting on the ground as they came my way to get a perspective from a dog's eye view. Shooting at f/4, the focus is on the dogs in the foreground, right where I want it. Remember to "PUSH IN TIGHT" to get this type of shot with a wide angle lens.

Photo: MW, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 400, 1/2000th, 0EV, 50mm.

The fox hunt is a big social event, for both horse and human. A chance to get all dressed up and reconnect old friendships. Probably a lot more fun for the horses, dogs and riders than the fox.
I gave this shot a "sense of place" as they left the restored Shaker Village.  

"Off to the Hunt". Photo: MW, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 400, 1/1600th, 0EV, 50mm. 

As the hunt master takes to the hills with the hounds in pursuit of the wily fox, I switch lenses to tell the story. Notice how the COMPRESSION of long glass works in the next 3 shots to create nice depth in each scene. 

"Picking up a Scent". Photo: MW, Aperture, f/5.6 @ ISO 400, 1/1250th, 0EV, 300mm.

"On the Trail". Photo: Wendy Wooley, Aperture, f/7.1 @ ISO 640, 1/1600th, -1/3 EV, 200mm.

"Road Crossing". Photo: MW, Aperture, f/5.6 @ ISO 400, 1/1600th, 0EV, 300mm.

Okay, we got the BIG picture, now some of the little stories. The 300 also gets me in tight.

Photo: MW, Aperture, f/5.6 @ ISO 400, 1/2000th, 0EV, 300mm.

Photo: MW, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 400, 1/4000th, -1/3 EV, 300mm.

Shooting at f/4 helps your subject pop out from a distracting background.

"Clopping Back". Photo: MW, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 400, 1/2000th, -1/3 EV, 300mm.

Here's a great example of the Rule of Thirds, times two. Not only is your eye drawn to the left one-third of the frame, the image also has depth.. front, middle and back thirds. Lots of LAYERS.

"Back to the Kennels". Photo: MW, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 400, 1/5000th, -1/3 EV, 300mm.

So that's how our morning went, from start to finish. A lot of our time was spent spotting, and then following, the hunt. By SUV. Mostly on the designated roads.
By the way, no fox was harmed in the making of this photo shoot.

That's it for now..
-mw.

Grace & Glory.. Havre de Grace and Gio Ponti

Most days you just have to work with what comes your way.
"Havre de Grace" was trotted out at Vinery on a beautiful Fall afternoon.

Havre de Grace at Vinery. Photo: Matt Wooley, Aperture, f/5 @ ISO 320, 1/2000th, -1/3 EV, 300mm.

And "Gio Ponti" was featured at Castleton Lyons the next day, a very blustery day in the 100 acre woods.  Wendy and I ended up getting a few good shots each day. Here's how we did it.

Gio Ponti at Castleton Lyons. Photo: Matt Wooley, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 500, 1/1000th, +1/3 EV, 300mm.

Look carefully at the exif data in the above two photos. The only big difference is the EXPOSURE COMPENSATION.

Havre de Grace at Vinery. Photo: Matt Wooley
Aperture, f/5 @ ISO 320, 1/1000th, -1/3 EV, 300mm.

Havre de Grace, owned by Rick Porter's Fox Hill Farm, was shown in appreciation of her fans at the owners' request. She is a candidate for Horse of the Year, ran 4th in the Breeder's Cup Classic against the boys, and will resume training for Larry Jones after the New Year.

"Havre de Grace Day" was a nice sunny afternoon. I wanted the colors to pop, and I wanted to protect the highlights. -1/3 EV did the trick! 

As is often the case, I shot tight (with a 300) and Wendy shot wide (with a 70-200). This way we get a good range of photos in a short amount of time, and we're not shooting the same thing as each other.

Havre de Grace at Vinery. Photo: Matt Wooley, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 320, 1/1000th, -1/3 EV, 300mm.

Havre de Grace at Vinery. Photo: Matt Wooley, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 320, 1/1000th, -1/3 EV, 300mm.

Always be VERY conscious of the background, keep it clean. The f/4 helped me get some separation from the trees, and your eye goes straight to the intended subject.
It turned out to be such a lovely day and nice turnout, and Havre de Grace of course being a beautiful race filly, that the Paulick Report thought it interesting enough to feature.

Havre de Grace at Vinery. Photo: Wendy Wooley, Aperture, f/3.2 @ ISO 200, 1/2000th, -1/3 EV, 70mm.

Gio Ponti at Castleton Lyons. Photo: Matt Wooley,
Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 800, 1/1600th, 0EV, 300mm.

 

Gio Ponti, a homebred for Castleton Lyons,  retired from racing after this past season. He collected 3 Eclipse awards in his brilliant career as a Turf Specialist. A repeat win in the G1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland this Fall highlighted his season.
He will stand at stud at the farm.

 Gio Ponti, the next day, was shot under mostly cloudy skies, with the sun popping in and out. I ranged from 0EV to +1/3 EV to bring out detail in the shadows. I pushed it just enough to get a few "blinkies" on the LCD with the Highlight Alerts turned on.

Aside from Exposure Compensation, one of the key differences in camera settings is the choice of CLOUDY WHITE BALANCE for Gio Ponti. This gave me nice warm tones on an overcast day.
I'm shooting in RAW, as always, but shooting in "Cloudy" means one less thing I need to do in Lightroom.

Gio Ponti at Castleton Lyons. Photo: Matt Wooley, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 800, 1/1600th, +1/3EV, 300mm.

Gio Ponti at Castleton Lyons. Photo: Matt Wooley, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 500, 1/2500th, 0EV, 300mm.

Clean backgrounds and shallow depth of field help make these photos work. Gio Ponti is actually looking out at a field of mares in the above shot... guess he's done racing.

Wendy got this great shot as he was led from the barn.

Gio Ponti at Castleton Lyons. Photo: Wendy Wooley, Aperture, f/4 @ ISO 200, 1/500th, -1 1/3EV, 180mm.

The key to this shot is the MINUS EXPOSURE COMPENSATION. Without doing much of anything else, all she did was dial the EV down to -1 & 1/3. Perfect. As the horse is led into the daylight, the inside of the barn goes away and makes for another clean background.

That's about it for now. We would love to hear from you!
Please send us comments, questions. Or suggest a topic you would like for us to discuss. Thanks.

More later... mw.